Before the Fall
by CherylB1964
Summary: Daryl and Merle remember their childhood. Update as I was writing this has sort of taken a turn. Seems different Dixon is trying to fix Carol.
1. Daryl's Hunt

"Hey Daryl! Can I talk to you for a minute?" The old man was huffing and puffing.

Daryl Dixon stopped and turned around. "Whadda ya want. I'm busy."

Dale, stopped for a moment trying to catch his breath. "Last night you said you hunt."

"What come to laugh some more? I know what I saw, I don't give shit if you believe me or not."

Dale shook his head. "No, if you say you saw a chupacabra, then you saw something. I spent some time in Texas. People see chupacabras all the time out there. I wanted to ask if you would mind hunting for the group today.

The food situation is, well it's the children. They went to bed hungry last night. You seem like a decent guy. I just thought maybe you'd be willing to hunt something for the kid's sake."

Daryl's first thought was to tell the old man to go jump in the quarry but the old bastard had found one of his few weak spots. Daryl knew what it was like to be a child and be hungry. He was taken back to a time he remembered well.

_In the woods, alone and hungry. Merle was back in lock-up and God only knew where his father was. The last he had see of the old man was him stumbling out the front door with an equally drunk waitress from the bar down the street. The only thing the old man had told him was to keep the damned dog from barking so the neighbors didn't call the police again._

_ It only took him a couple of hours of sitting in the trailer doing nothing before he was bored out of his skull. What started as another walk in the woods, soon turned into a nightmare when he wandered farther than he planned to and realized he was lost. Nine days of wandering around in circles eating berries and wiping his ass with poison oak before he finally found his way to the road and home._

_ It was too much to hope the old son of a bitch he called a 'father' had been worried about him. The only thing his father had said when he walked in the door was "Get me a damned beer you useless little bastard." _

Daryl shook off the memory. "I'll see what I can bring down."

Dale watched as Daryl picked up his crossbow and slung it over his shoulder. "Thank you."

"Save your thanks old man. Kids gotta eat if they gonna grow." Daryl said without ever turning around.

Dale watched as the young man disappeared into the tree line. Daryl really wasn't such a bad sort, it was just too bad he was Merle Dixon's younger brother. The problem was that pretty much everyone in camp had made up their mind about Daryl based on Merle.

Merle was a first rate asshole and never missed an opportunity to prove it. Merle was loud, rude and obnoxious, while Daryl was quiet and soft spoken. The problem was that Daryl followed his brother's lead even when it was obvious that he was uncomfortable with it.

Daryl wandered through the woods lost in thought. Things had changed since he and Merle had escaped the geeks, the day his father had died. Daryl had tried to tell both Merle and his father that they needed to get the hell out of dodge and head to the shelter in Atlanta but neither one of them would listen. The old man had put his foot down, the Dixon's didn't have much but damned if either one of his boys was gonna turn tail and run like a couple of pussies. They were going to fight for what they had.

Of course Merle took that as another opportunity tell him what a bitch he was.

_"What are ya scared of Darylina? Stop acting like a little bitch. We hole up here and wait for __the shit to blow over." _

_ "That boy ain't even a Dixon. Look at him, don't look nothing like me." the old man had sneered. "Don't know who your momma laid down with to git knocked up with that one but it sure as hell won't me. He's jus' like her too. Pitiful bitch couldn't do nothing right. Only thing that slut did right was dying birthing him. Too bad she didn't take her git with her."_

_ "Darylina ain't so bad sometimes, Pa. He has his moments, brought back that boar last year." Merle said suddenly defending him. That was normal. Merle would give him shit, then Pa would give him shit, then Merle would say something good._

_ "I'm gonna go check outside." Daryl said to no one in particular. He knew the routine from here. Merle and Pa would get into it now and when he went back inside Merle would give him shit and Daryl would simply take it. He had learned a long time ago to just let Merle vent. Better that than coming to blows with Merle. _

A noise to his left drew his attention. Daryl sighted and fired, skewering another good sized squirrel. He added it to the three he already had. The squirrels wouldn't go far, but that buck would if he could just catch up to it. Kneeling down, Daryl spotted more blood. He stood and quietly followed the deer's path. Once again his memories took him back.

_Two days since the Dixon's had holed up in their old trailer. The old man was passed out again and Merle was off in another drug induced fog. It was Daryl who spotted her. Cindy Jenks, the town whore. The last person Daryl wanted to see. For the past three months she had been doing her level best to get in him in her panties. Not because she cared about him or was interested in any way, but because she had already screwed Merle and Pa. She was just interested in adding another Dixon to her long list of names. Daryl wasn't interested in hearing around town which Dixon was the better fuck so he had been avoiding her for a while._

_ "Who's at?" Merle slurred, stumbling up to look out the window. "Damned bitch is drunk again. Why don't you help her on in Darylina? Oh that's right you scared of women ain't ya?" _

_ "You let her in if you want her here so bad, Just remember, Pa ain't gonna like it." Daryl said._

_ "Hell Pa'll be pounding that bitch soon as he sobers up. Hell, maybe you'll finally learn what you supposed to do with a woman baby brother." Merle said opening the door to let the woman in._

Damn that deer, Daryl thought. Son of a bitch should have gone down by now. Instead it had circled back heading in the direction of the quarry. That at least was a lucky break, he wouldn't have to drag it that far when he caught up to it.

_The problem was that she wasn't drunk, she had been bitten. It only took a couple of hours for the fever to finish her off. They hadn't realized that she would come back. It had been over three hours since Cindy had died. Both he and Merle had figured she was well and truly dead._

_ Pa had still been passed out and Merle had told him to get some sleep and stop worrying. Daryl had to admit that he was exhausted. But he made Merle swear that he would keep an eye out. It was Pa's screams that woke him up. _

_ Merle was nowhere to be found but Cindy was. She had her mouth clamped down on Pa's arm while the half drunk old man tried to beat her off with a bourbon bottle. Merle had come barreling in the front door to see Daryl standing there. Merle thought it was fear, but it was something else that had kept Daryl frozen in place, hatred. Hatred of the sorry bastard that had made his life a living hell for the past 40 years._

_ It was Merle who picked up the fireplace poker and beat Cindy to death again. It was Merle who realized it had to be the brain._

_ "Dammit don't just stand there, get me something to bandage up this bite." Merle yelled at him._

_ "It won't do any good Merle. He's a goner. He's bit now just like she was." Daryl said. "We need to get out of here and get to Atlanta."_

_ "I'll admit you're right more people means we'll have a better chance." Merle said. "But we need to do what we can for him, he's our father."_

_ Daryl started to tell Merle exactly what he thought about that but Merle cut him off._

_ "I know he always said you weren't a Dixon but you are. You are his son, you just look a lot like our Mama. And for all the shit he talked that woman meant something to him. She died giving birth to you and he needed someone to blame. Now get me something to use as a bandage then start packing what we need in the truck."_

Daryl stopped and looked at the tracks. He had a dozen squirrels now. The deer's progress now was a bit slower since he had been able to get another shot off. It was the second set of tracks that worried him, he was no longer the only one stalking the deer. The question was if the other set of tracks was a person or a geek.

_They had just gotten Merle's motorcycle tied down in the bed of the truck when Pa came back. There was no recognition in the old man's eyes as he sat up from where they had lain him beside the propane tank. He, it clumsily struggled to it's feet and shuffled forward. _

_ "Son of a bitch!" Merle exclaimed as Daryl grabbed an axe and buried it in the old man's head. Daryl quickly ducked as Merle reached for him._

_ "Not this time Merle. No more." Daryl said. "He made my life a living hell, that's over. Next time you lay your hands on me, I'll kill you too."_

_ Merle just looked at Daryl for a moment before grabbing the old man by the arms and dragging back up the steps into the trailer. Daryl stood there and watched through the window as flames begin to spring to life inside._

_ Merle came out closing the door behind him. "Get in the truck Darylina, it's time to go."_

Daryl could hear a commotion coming from the clearing ahead. Stepping out he saw the blond sisters Annie and Amy or whatever looking at a group of men from the camp including the old man who had asked him to go hunting. The men were gathered around the headless body of a walker and the deer he had been tracking for miles.

"Son of a bitch! That's my deer!"


	2. Merle's Mission

"I can't believe you actually agreed to go with them." Daryl said.

"Somebody has to make sure that we get our fair share, and someone has to make sure they don't steal us blind while I'm gone." Merle said. "I can't believe we're stuck here in this camp with all those 'people'.

You make sure they stay out of our stuff. We ain't even got enough for ourselves much less anybody else."

"I got a bad feeling about this Merle, just let them go into the city and stay here." Daryl said. "We can go out tomorrow and do some hunting or something for our share."

"Have you been payin' attention Darylina? Ain't single one of 'em would piss on either one of us if we were dying of thirst. We want our fair share, then we have to demand it. 'Sides we might just pass a sporting goods store and I can grab you some more arrows for that bow of yours.

When I get back we'll talk about where we go from here, see if we can't find us a group of decent white people somewhere."

Merle was definitely not happy stuck in the back of this pickup with T-Dog, Jacqui and Andrea while Morales sat up front with Glenn driving. He couldn't believe that Shane Walsh had put the kid and the that illegal alien in charge of things. Merle closed his eyes and let his mind drift back to happier times when it was just him Ma and Pa. Before Daryl was born.

_Pa had been a mean drunk, but when he was sober things were good. When he got drunk, he'd usually slap Ma, but then she got pregnant with Daryl. That was when things got ugly. Pa didn't feel like he could slap a pregnant woman so he started hitting on Merle. _

_ By the time Daryl was born, Merle had already learned to get out of sight when the old man went on one of his benders. Then there was what happened with Ma. The lie that had been told and retold so many times that the truth had all but been forgotten, the lie had been told so many times that Pa had convinced himself it was the truth and Daryl had lived with the consequences of that lie all his life. Merle sometimes wondered how life would have turned out if the situation with Ma had never happened._

"Dixon, wake up we're here." The blonde chick Andrea was shaking him. "Glenn says from here we walk.

Merle checked his old hunting rifle and jumped down from the bed of the truck.

"The department store is here. That's where we'll all go. We can go across the roof here to the office building. It's one of the older buildings with stores and stuff on the first floor in and out and then back across the roof to the department store.

If we're lucky the walkers will be a block away. Dixon you have the gun so you act as a lookout on the roof. You'll be able to see if they cut us off from coming back this way. If they do we'll have to come back a different way." Glenn explained drawing a rough map in the dirt. "Everybody ready?"

When everyone nodded the group set off toward the department store a few blocks away. Once there Merle headed to the roof to take up his spot.

_"Merle, why don't we have a mama?" Daryl asked as he sat on the kitchen counter._

_ What a little brat Merle thought looking at his 7 year old brother. Daryl could be a brat but being 8 years older, Merle still felt responsible for him. Especially at times like this._

_ "Our Mama is in heaven." Merle said as he held the wet towel against Daryl's nose to stem the flow of blood._

_ "Look Daryl, Don't ever ask him about Mama again. It just makes him mad." Merle said. "And then he hurts you. He is always going to hurt you because Mama died trying to give birth to you. Every time you remind him you're there, you just give him a reason to. _

_ "Go on to your room now and do your homework. Okay?"_

_ "Yes Merle." The little boy said quietly as Merle lifted him down._

_ Merle looked around at the shabby old trailer they called home. The 15 year old used the towel to wipe up the drops of blood from the worn linoleum. It was a rotten place to raise a kid._

_ The old man didn't give a damn though. He didn't give a damn about much of anything since Ma had 'died'. That was a joke. Ma hadn't died she had run off with some big black mandingo from New York a week after Daryl had been born. The only reason Pa had gotten away with telling people she was dead was cause the Dixons lived so far out of town and Old Doc Handley was one of Pa's drinking buddies. _

_ The Doc went down to the department of vital records and signed off on a Death Certificate, that was the end of Ma. At least until Daryl turned three and there was Ma standing in the yard by a big shiny Buick, talking about how she was taking her boys away. She even had the papers giving her custody. _

_ That was when she died. Pa had blown her brains out. Told her won't no way she was taking his boys up to New York so they could be raised by some nigger. If not for Ma, maybe things would have been different around the Dixon house._

Merle looked down on the street. The Geeks were milling around but not too many of them close. No one had come back yet from their assigned runs, it would be a while. Merle reached in his pocket and took out a pill popping it in his mouth,

_When the nigger showed up looking for Ma a few years later, that's when Pa really started getting ugly. Merle had been out doing some chores for old Doc Handley. That was when Merle realized the old man was gonna take all his hatred out on his younger son now. He had found Daryl hiding in the dog house, he was already startin' to bruise._

_ Merle had cleaned him up and and kept Daryl close to him for the next week. He got some shit from his friends about his little shadow. Merle had taken to teasingly calling him Darylina, but that was cool. Daryl had idolized his big brother back then. Daryl was the one person who thought Merle could do no wrong. Leave it up to the old man to ruin even that._

_ "So that's where the little bastard's hiding, behind your coattails." The old man had said. "Come here Daryl."_

_ When Daryl hesitated the old man got up and grabbed Daryl by the arm yanking him forward. "You do what I tell you when I tell you boy. If I say come here you damned well better come!_

_ I wonder who your mama laid down with to git you, thank God Almighty at least they were white. Won't no nigger spawned you. You can thank her for that. I'll raise you but you better understand right now I don't think you're mine." the old man had shoved Daryl to the ground before picking up a bottle of bourbon and stomping off to his bedroom._

_ Merle soon picked up on the pattern. The nicer he was to Daryl, the meaner the old man got and the more withdrawn Daryl started to get. _

_ The 'A's and 'B's Daryl had been bringing home on his report cards started slipping down to 'C's and 'D's. Daryl's teachers sent home little notes about 'behavioral problems'. Merle made sure he hid it all. It was just something else the old man would use as an excuse. _

_ Then came Merle's first stint in in the Georgia State Home for Boys. He got caught selling weed on school property. Daryl had been 8 years old. Merle had warned him to stay out of the old man's way for 30 days, and when Merle came home Daryl's arm was in a cast. The old man had broken it when he threw Daryl out the front door. That was the day he finally broke his little brother's heart._

_ "Dammit Darylina can't you take care of yourself for two minutes? I leave you alone and look at you. You go and break your arm." Merle had said seeing how intently the old man was watching. __He knew by the smile on the old man's face, Daryl would be safe at least for today. But the look in Daryl's eyes had cut Merle to the quick. That look of adoration had been replaced by a look of despair at his older brother's betrayal._

_ Things finally came to a head on Daryl's 9__th__ birthday. Merle had brought home a cake from the bakery in town. The old man had been off on a bender with some skank he had picked up in the local bar and hadn't been seen for days. It was just bad luck the old man had come home. The bastard just used that as another reason. This time the 17 year old Merle snapped. When Daryl went flying, Merle started swinging. Of course with Merle sober and the old man half drunk it wasn't much of a fight._

_ "If you ever put your hands on him again, I swear to God I'll kill you." Merle had spat down at the old man. _

_ He had then walked over to Daryl and pulled him up from the floor. "Shut up! Stop that damned sniveling! Stop all that damned crying. That sorry son of bitch beats the hell out of you because you're always crying like a little pussy. Stop being a little bitch and learn to act like a man dammit!"_

_ Merle had thought that would be the end of it but he was wrong. It was the sound of the floor creaking that woke him. The light was on in the kitchen and he could see the old man passed out in the recliner as usual. He saw Daryl come out of the kitchen with the knife. He supposed it was shock that made him hesitate for that split second. By the time Merle reached them Daryl was pulling the knife out of the old man's side to stab him again._

Merle sat there cuffed to the pipe like a dog on a chain. That damned nigger sat there with the key like he was somebody. Merle had beat the living shit out of T-Dog, Ice-T, Dog-Bone whatever the hell his name was and didn't regret it one bit. If he got loose from here he was gonna finish the job. Niggers didn't do nothing but mess up decent white people's lives Merle closed his eyes putting the deputy and that whole damned group of pussies out of his mind.

_By the time the ambulance got there, Merle had cleaned Daryl up._

_ "Listen to me Daryl, when they get here you tell them that me and Pa had a fight earlier and you got up to get a drink of water and saw me stab him. You understand?" Merle had repeated to Daryl for the umpteenth time. The old man was still alive and would be just fine. _

_ "I did it. You told me to act like a man." Daryl said._

_ "Dammit Daryl do I have to beat this into your head? You're smart. Smarter than that old bastard. You can get out of this cesspool. Use your brain and think for once. They send you away and any chance you got will be gone, that sorry sack of shit wins. He screws up your life till the day you die." Merle explained. "I already have a record. I've been in juvvie already my life is screwed. I'm not going to let you screw your life up over a sorry piece of shit that has hated you since you wasn't but a week old._

_ Stay out of his way, don't let him know when he hurts you, keep that shit inside. Go to school, learn something. Make something out of yourself and you win. I'm doing this for you, so you can have a chance. You pay me back by taking that chance. And we never, I mean never talk about this again. I stabbed the bastard."_

_ The old man never laid his hands on Daryl again, but he found other ways. When Old Doc Handley had come on a visiting day and told Merle that Daryl was missing, Merle had been afraid that Daryl was was up in the woods somewhere in a shallow grave just like Ma. It was a relief to find out that Darylina had just managed to get himself lost for a few days and had turned up none the worse for wear. _

_ Daryl had toughened up by the time Merle came home. Merle had joined the Army, then gotten kicked out on a dishonorable discharge. Daryl had been 11 at the time. The kid had learned how to take care of himself. When he was hungry, he'd take off into the woods and bring back something to fill his belly. He avoided the old man as much as possible and when he couldn't he had learned to fight the old man with words just as bitter as the old man threw at him. _

_ Daryl had once told him that the Dixon men were like a bunch of damned harpies who couldn't stand each other. Life was nothing more than a constant fight they couldn't couldn't escape and couldn't win because they just didn't know any other way. He figured it was just a mattter of time before Old Doc Handley would smell something on the wind up at his place and come over to find all of 'em dead and rotting from killing each other._

Merle wasn't really a praying man, but he was praying now. God only knows how many geeks were trying to through that door, but Merle didn't plan to stick around to find out.

_Daryl was quiet as they had traveled toward Atlanta. _

_ "The old bastard got what was coming to him Daryl. I told him that bitch was gonna give him some disease. Lord knows she gave me the clap" Merle had said to break the silence._

_ "I killed him." Daryl had said. "All these damned years and I finally killed him."_

_ "You didn't kill him. You put down a geek. That thing was nothing to us." Merle said. "It's just you and me now. We ain't got no more of that bastard's bullshit to deal with, all we have now is each other. We gonna be okay baby brother. _

_ Ain't neither one of us pussies. We both been survivin' long as we been alive. We're a damned sight better off'n most of these people. Gonna be dead within the month, but not us._

_ I'm gonna watch your back, and you gonna watch mine. The shit we had to deal with made us tough, and you're just as tough of a bastard as I am, maybe tougher. You got shit from me and Pa. Pa gave you shit cause he hated you, I gave you shit cause I wanted you to be strong enough to stand up to him."_

Merle pulled the belt tight around his arm and started sawing at his wrist. Daryl was still his baby brother and there wasn't nobody on earth that cared about Daryl except Merle.


	3. Reunion

Daryl slowed the bike and then stopped. Glancing around he didn't see any walkers but but that didn't stop him from being cautious. The word "Exxon" had never looked so beautiful. This little convenience store in the middle of nowhere and just sitting there a fuel tanker.

It didn't look like anyone had hit the place yet. The windows were intact. Setting his crossbow he cautiously approached the building. A 12 foot chain link fence enclosed an area of land behind the building. He was creeping past the ice machine when the compressor kicked on making him jump. It took him a minute to realize what it meant, the place had power.

Daryl eased around the corner of the building to look in the fenced area. A long building stretched out along the fence line, an old motel like they had in the days before every big chain started building hotel's along the interstates. The gate to the back was padlocked and Daryl couldn't see any walkers. He went back and checked the door to the store...locked.

This'll do he thought to himself returning to the bike and heading back in the direction he had come.

"Will you sit down and stop pacing? You're getting on my nerves." Andrea snapped.

Carol sat down in one of the lawn chairs. Angering Andrea was not a good idea. When she had reconnected with the group along with the newcomer Michonne, she had accused Carol of being nothing more than a liability to the group. When Carol had turned to Daryl; expecting him to speak on her behalf. Andrea had attacked her for that too, saying Daryl did everything except wipe Carol's ass for her. Daryl had just grunted and walked away from the whole mess. It was Michonne that had calmed Andrea down then. But Michonne was not here now, like Daryl she was out scouting.

Carol looked around and saw Glenn giving her a look of pity. Other than the Greene family, Glenn seemed to be the only one that didn't treat Carol with contempt. Even Daryl seemed to have little patience with her since they had lost T-Dog.

"If you want them to stop looking at you like imposition, you are going to have to change their opinion. No one can do that for you." Hershel said dragging his chair over next to Carol. "Everyone is still upset about losing Theodore."

"They blame me, they wish I had died." Carol said quietly. "Even Daryl."

"There's no guarantee that T-Dog would still be alive even if you had tried to help." Glenn said joining them.

"Oh bullshit!" Andrea said stomping over to where they were all sitting. "If she had done something instead of just stand there screaming, T-Dog wouldn't have turned his back on that walker to help Daryl when she was standing right there. No offense to Rick he's been a good leader, but Daryl is the one that is keeping us alive. Daryl is the one teaching us what we need to know to survive. T-Dog knew what losing Daryl would mean to us. So T-Dog did what Daryl should have been able to depend on from you Carol, to have his back. Lord knows Daryl has done more than enough for you since we left the CDC."

"You aren't going to say anything?" Lori asked her husband as they sat a little ways off from the group.

"What is there for me to say Lori? Daryl told me she had to toughen up; but I felt sorry for her, what with Sophia and the crap she went through with her husband. Because I felt sorry for her; Daryl almost died and T-Dog did. Carol just stood there. Everyone is wondering who dies the next time we can't depend on Carol." Rick said. Looking up at the sound of the approaching motorcycle he added, "Daryl's back."

Carol let out a sigh of relief as she stood up and took a small step forward.

"Found an old truck stop about five miles up the road." Daryl said as he came forward. "Didn't see no walkers and the damned place has power."

"Power? How can that be, a generator?" Glenn asked.

"I dunno, but the ice machine came on and scared me so bad I damned near pissed myself." Daryl answered.

"Alright, we stay here tonight, give Michonne a chance to get back. In the morning we'll pull out." Rick said.

Merle had no idea where Daryl was, but he refused to accept that any of those charred bodies back at the quarry had belonged to his brother. Besides, the tent, the truck, the bike; they were all gone.

Those folks he had wrote off had put up one hell of a fight. They were tougher than he thought they were. It was pretty obvious they had pulled up stakes and left, that geek dead outside of the camp said plain enough that it had no longer been safe to stay. Merle also knew that if he was going to find Daryl it would be with those people.

Merle knew Walsh had been talking about Ft Benning. After escaping from the roof Merle had intended to head back to the quarry but the sheer number of geeks on the streets made the going slow. Only having one hand didn't help. There won't no way he could drive that damned box truck one-handed. Merle hoped one of those burnt bodies belonged to that bastard lawman that had handcuffed him to the pipe.

Merle had finally found a car with some gas that had an automatic transmission, and made his way to the quarry. When he saw that the camp was empty, Benning it was. But Benning was a wash too. The place had obviously been overrun a long time ago. Nobody left 'cept one little black boy. Before the world had gone to hell Merle wouldn't have given the little git the time of day, but for now Duane was the only company he had.

Then they had found this place. They had been holed up here for a week. There was plenty of gas and a good generator. He and Duane had settled in and started fortifying the place. He hadn't seen any signs of other people until now. Just plain luck that when he and Duane go hunting, someone comes snooping around. Yes it was someone alive that had been snooping around the truck stop, geeks didn't ride motorcycles.

"You can ride with us Carol." Glenn said shooting Daryl a dirty look. At least until Michonne had stepped in his line of vision.

"Glenn, right now Daryl is getting ready to lead us into an unknown situation. It may have looked safe yesterday when he found it, but today could be a different story. He needs to keep his mind on that and not the fact that you don't agree with how he chooses to treat Carol."

Michonne gave Carol a look as she climbed into the back seat of the Hyundai with Beth. Maggie was already behind the wheel. Hershel and Andrea were riding with the Grimes family. Michonne turned and walked over to where Daryl was sitting on his bike waiting.

"Ready?" Daryl asked.

Michonne hopped on the back and made sure her sword would be easy to draw if she needed it. "Let's go."

"Michonne and I will go in first, we can take care of any walkers before the rest of you roll in." Daryl told Rick.

"Duane you keep a good eye out, you hear?" Merle ordered.

"Yes sir. I'll let you know if anyone gets close."

"Just remember, we have to keep it down, so don't shoot less you have to. I'm gonna walk the perimeter make sure nobody's sneaking up on us that way." Merle told the boy.

Merle watched as Duane found a good spot to keep an eye on the road. He was actually a smart kid, kind of reminded Merle of Daryl at that age, scrawny as hell but tough as shoe leather. Like Daryl the kid had no idea of just how tough he really was. The kid had actually been surviving by himself at Benning. Avoiding the geeks, putting them down when he had to. The kid had put down his own father too, just like Daryl. Merle had respected that even if the kid was black. Even before the world went to hell there were a handful of blacks Merle had grudgingly respected, but this kid was the first black he ever felt any kind of fondness for.

Merle had taken the kid under his wing, started training him. Shit, in a couple of years that kid was gonna be just as tough as any Dixon, if he lived long enough.

The group stood on the side of the highway. Everyone had been praying they would have enough gas to make it, no one had thought about a flat tire. Glenn and Hershel were changing the tire while Rick, Andrea and Michonne were keeping watch. Daryl had been trying to keep watch but Carol's constant glances in his direction had finally gotten on his last nerve.

"You got something you want to say Carol?" Daryl asked, getting right up in her face. After a minute or so he added, "Well you gonna say it or just stand there lookin' all pitiful?"

"Why are you acting like this? You avoid me, you won't talk to me." She finally asked.

"Look, I do the best I can for everyone in this group, just like Rick. Everyone in this group knows that we have to be able to depend on each other.

This ain't King Arthur's Court and you sure as hell ain't no Guinevere; but this whole time you're sitting around doing nothing, learning nothing. All you do is complain cause things ain't perfect. I'm tired of always being your knight in shining armor, I've been tired of it for a while.

But two days ago was the last straw. Once again Sir Daryl comes runnin' to your rescue. You're standin' there screamin' when we're damn near being overrun and it cost us T-Dog. He picked up your slack and died for doing it.

There comes a time when you have to stand on your own two feet. This is that time, Carol. Get your head out of your ass. I won't keep savin' your ass. No one else is gonna put themselves at risk to keep savin' your ass, except maybe Glenn who has enough on his plate just savin' his own most of the time. You're just gonna have to save your own ass from now on." Daryl said before stomping off to check on the progress with the tire.

"A little harsh weren't you." Rick asked as Daryl passed by him.

"How many times did I tell you she was gonna get someone killed if you didn't force her to wise up?" Daryl asked. "She's like I was as a kid, cryin' and snivelin' and waitin' around for Merle to come save my ass just cause I was little. I just told her what she needed to hear, what she does with it is up to her."

"Somebody's coming!" Duane started to say.

"Yeah I know. Sounds like a bike, probably our visitor from yesterday. But they ain't alone this time, I hear cars too." Merle answered. "Stay here, I'm gonna slip out back come around from the side and up behind em."

Duane sighted the rifle so he could have whoever it was in his sights when they pulled in. Merle nodded and then made his way to the back of the store.

The bike rolled in first with a man and a woman on it. She jumped off as soon as the bike stopped drawing a wicked looking sword. The man grabbed the crossbow and immediately set it and loaded it. The two did a quick sweep of the parking lot and then the woman walked to the road and signaled the others. The green car rolled in first and four people got out, a young Asian man and three women. The SUV was last; an old man, a kid and two women (one pregnant) got out. Duane wasn't liking the odds when the last man walked around the front of the vehicle.

He seemed familiar, it took Duane a minute to place him. The cop he and his father had met, The one that had woke up in the hospital, Mr Grimes. Duane immediately jumped up and ran to the back of the store calling for Merle.

"I'm gonna check around back." Daryl said looking down at the ground. "Got some fresh tracks here."

"Be careful." Michonne warned as Daryl slipped around the side of the building.

"I will. You and Andrea hold the fort here."

Daryl heard the kid before he saw him. Couldn't be much older 'n Carl. He quietly slung the bow over his back and grabbed the kid who made a noise somewhere between a squawk and a yelp.

"Be quiet, I ain't gonna hurt you." Daryl hissed before spinning around in shock at the voice behind him.

"Damn right you ain't!"


	4. Catching up

The atmosphere was a bit tense in the little restaurant off the convenience store, Merle Dixon of all people to run into. He hadn't tried to kill Rick, Andrea or Glenn but this was Merle Dixon. Daryl was dangerous but but the group knew him well enough to know it took some riling to get him to that point, but what they remembered of Merle was that he was like an angry rattler coiled to strike.

Daryl and Merle were sitting together at a table in the corner talking.

"Told Rick the only person that could kill you was you." Daryl said to his brother. "It's just too bad T-Dog ain't here. What happened on that roof weighed on him pretty bad. He went back with us, felt responsible."

"Went back?" Merle asked.

"Yeah, we went back to get you. Me, Rick, T-Dog and Glenn. We wasn't but a few minutes behind you. Blood was still tacky when we got to the roof. Hell, the Sterno hadn't even burnt out in that kitchen, iron was cool enough to touch, so couldn't have been over 10, 15 minutes."

"I see Ranger Rick, what happened to T-Dog? And I don't see Walsh either." Merle said.

"Shane lost it, completely flipped out. Killed some guy named Otis, was a part of Hershel's group. Then set up this plan to get Rick in the woods and kill him too. Woulda only been a matter of time before he got round to me. Rick killed Walsh, and Rick's kid put a bullet in his head and put him down. They was best friends before all this, partners on the force and shit."

"And the nigger?" Merle prodded.

"Don't call him that!" Daryl snapped. "He went back for you, tried to do right by you. And he always done right by me. He went down a couple of days ago keepin' walkers off my back. I'm sittin' here talkin' to you right now cause of T-Dog, he died savin' my ass which is more'n most anyone else woulda done for a Dixon.

Sides that boy over there has one hell of a tan to be hangin' out with you."

"You're right baby brother, I guess those old habits die hard. But that kid over there is one tough little git. Had kept himself alive at Ft Benning for over a week with the place full of geeks. Only other kid I ever knew close to bein' that tough is sittin' cross the table from me. Difference is, Duane ain't had no rash on his ass Darylina." Merle said with a snort.

Daryl looked at Merle for a moment before the laughter overtook him. "Damn if my ass didn't itch for a solid week! I swear I walk in the door scratching the hell out my ass and the only thing the old man said was get me a beer. Made damned sure I opened it with the hand I'd been scratchin' with!"

Everyone gawked at the Dixon brothers rolling with laughter.

"Are we sure that is really Daryl and Merle?" Andrea asked.

"Maybe they got abducted by aliens and these are just replicas, like in Invasion of the Body Snatchers." Glenn suggested.

"It's definitely a different side of them." Lori added.

"They had both given up hope of ever seeing each other again. In the short time I've known Daryl; I've learned he's not the type for hugs, kisses and tears. I get the feeling his brother is a lot like him." Hershel noted. "That folks, is the Dixon version of a tearful reunion. By tomorrow Daryl will be back to his normal short-tempered, grumpy, all business normal self."

* * *

"I'm sorry about your father Duane, Morgan was a good man." Rick said.

"We caught the last part of you saying Atlanta was gone and that you were heading to Ft Benning." Duane explained. "Dad said you'd catch up to us there if God was willing. But when we got to Ft Benning, there was only a few people left. Not enough to be safe."

"I'm sorry for that. It was the only other place we could think of that might be safe when the CDC went." Rick said.

"You didn't know. But we didn't know that they came back without being bitten. We had barricaded ourselves in one of the buildings. We just piled the bodies in another room when they died. If we had opened the doors we would've been overrun. It was all we could think to do. Then they started coming back. That's how dad got bit. He got us out but we both knew it was only a matter of time. He made me promise." Duane's voice cracked.

Rick changed the subject. "How did you end up with Merle Dixon?"

"He showed up one day, I heard the car and knew it had to be someone alive. He had this axe killing walkers. I just started helping him." Duane shrugged. "He asked if anyone was still alive and I told him no. My dad used to call people like him peckerwoods when he didn't think I was listening. You know people that didn't like blacks?

Well Merle gives me this funny look then asks if I know how to drive. I told him no and he said it was about time I learned, and told me to get in the car. We left Benning and just started heading along the back roads with Merle just complaining and criticizing. But I was really driving within a couple of hours. When we would stop, Merle started teaching me how to hunt.

I asked him one night why he took me with him since I knew he didn't like black people. He said he knew someone that had gotten lost in the woods as a kid for over a week. Next to Merle, that person was the toughest SOB he knew. He said I reminded of that kid he knew. He said I was a tough little git and tough little gits could survive if they learned."

"That was a big compliment coming from Merle." Rick said. "You've met Daryl, with the condition the world is in, you could do a lot worse than being compared to Daryl Dixon."

"Daryl seems a lot quieter than Merle. Dad always said it was the quiet ones you had to watch out for, they were always the most dangerous."

"I won't lie, Daryl is dangerous. When it comes to the group he will do what has to be done to protect us all and I sometimes think killing walkers is like a hobby for him. Don't worry about Daryl being dangerous. Sometimes the best thing that can happen is having a dangerous person consider you a friend.

You should get some sleep. I doubt you've had much lately."


	5. Last Chance

"Bout time you woke up, Darylina. But I have to tell ya all that damned beauty sleep ain't helped ya none." Merle said as Daryl joined him in the little restaurant.

"Shut up Merle, sides how the hell was I supposed to get any sleep when you were snoring loud enough for every walker from here to Atlanta to hear ya?" Daryl replied. "So where do we stand right now?"

"We got a pretty good set up here. I figure we can dig in like a Alabama tick and do pretty well for ourselves." Merle said.

"We can try, What do we need to do? Got a lot more hands to help with the heavy lifting now. Rick'll put his people to work where ever you need em."

I should still put my foot in Ranger Rick's ass, but you say he's done right by you. He gets a pass this time. Duane and I been trying to get that fence fortified. Be nice if we had the pickup right now."

"I know but we had to leave it in Atlanta when we left the CDC, we just didn't have the gas. The bike takes a lot less fuel to run. A lot easier to scout ahead and get through the pile ups on the roads too."

"Well gas ain't a problem that tanker out there is about half full. And with all the damn trucks out there just sitting around that won't be a problem either. There's a little town bout 12 miles north of here. Right outside that town is a Home Depot. Duane and I been going up and loading what we can in that little car out back. Even with the hatchback we can't carry much."

"So I guess the first thing is to get our hands on a running truck then take a trip to town?" Daryl noted. "Well we got some able-bodied men to do that. I'll go talk to Rick."

* * *

"Merle" Rick nodded. "Daryl, Glenn and Andrea are going to see if they can find a truck. But in the meantime Hershel and I thought we could lend a hand with the fortifying."

"You got some balls, Grimes. I ain't quite willing to forgive you for leaving me on that roof. But Daryl said you tried to make it right and you done right by him, I'll even admit I won't quite in my right mind that day. So that gets you a pass, this time."

"Fair enough," Rick agreed. "I want to talk to you a minute about Daryl, last night the two of you. Well it wasn't what I expected to see from the Dixons."

"Yeah well me n Daryl ain't as close as we once were, but we are blood. There was a time when Daryl thought I was some superhero or something. Them days is over but no matter what anyone ever said I care about my little brother. We had it rough coming up and I did the best I could for him. He may not think I walk on water no more, but he knows." Merle said.

"Daryl said you're responsible for him being as tough as he is." Rick said.

"Well I won't doing him no favors letting him think I was gonna spend my life protectin' his ass. I won't always around. Best thing I ever did was make him depend on himself. I hadn't he woulda been dead a long time ago."

"I need your help, with Carol." Rick said.

* * *

"Well lookee here, at the domesticated women just a scrubbin and cleanin. Right where you belong. Ain't that right Carol?" Merle said finding Carol and Lori working on cleaning the cooking area of the little restaurant. "Always thought you was well-trained. Too bad Ed couldn't find nothing better to do with you than kick your ass."

Carol did not react, she simply kept scrubbing the grill top. No wonder Daryl said this one needs to toughen up, Merle thought.

"Heard you had a field day on his head with an axe after the geeks got done wit em. Too bad you didn't do that when he was still alive and kicking your ass. You wouldna been walking round that camp looking like you'd just finished going 10 rounds with Mike Tyson all the time."

Carol simply started scrubbing harder.

"Heard ya was too scared to go after your little girl, Ranger Rick had to do it. Then ya sat around on your ass waitin' for Daryl to find her."

Carol finally flinched as Merle taunted her about Sophia.

"Oh yeah then ya put the icing on the cake by standing there while geeks was trying ta kill my brother. T-Dog got hisself bit then didn't he?" Merle asked.

"That's enough!" Lori said hugging a now weeping Carol to her. "Leave her alone. T-Dog chose to help Daryl. It was his choice."

"One he made because Carol here wasn't lifting a finger to help was she? She was just standing there, and would have stood there while them damned geeks tore Daryl apart. Well pardon me if I ain't got no pity for 'er" Merle said. "And look at her now standin' there saying nothin'. Still ain't doing a damned thing to defend herself. Gotta have a pregnant woman come waddling to her defense.

Go on back to your cleanin' Carol, seems to be the only thing you good for. Just remember when it comes down to it, don't nobody round here need a maid. But when you ready to put that damned scrub brush down and learn how to take care of yourself, you come n see me." With that parting shot Merle walked away.


	6. Bully?

"Damn Michonne! I have to say you're my favorite person right now." Daryl said grabbing another grape from the basket. "Nothing like a wild scupanon. Where'd you find em'?"

"They're just growing along fences out on the main road. Found a blackberry bramble too. My Grandmother taught me a bit about canning when I was a kid. I figured I might try my hand at preserving some of them." Michonne answered. then groaned as she saw who was approaching. "Have you done something to piss Lori off recently? She's heading this way and she doesn't look happy."

"Olive Oyl ain't been happy for a while now" Daryl sighed. "Guess I better see what she wants. Probably can't find Carl again."

"Michonne I need to talk to Daryl for a minute?" Lori said as she joined them.

"No problem, I need to get these grapes in the kitchen anyway." Michonne said turning away. "If I figure out how to preserve these babies we'll at least have some fruit put away."

"What do you want Lori? You didn't waddle all the way out here for your health. Need me to look for Carl?"

"No Carl is with Rick, I need to talk to you about your brother. He just attacked Carol!" Lori shouted.

"He hit her?" Daryl asked.

"You don't have to hit someone to attack them. He threw it up in her face about Ed beating her, and losing Sophia...T-Dog's death. He told her the only thing she's good for is being a maid." Lori yelled.

"Sounds to me like all he's done is tell the truth, but you're barking up the wrong tree. In case you didn't know, I quit being Carol's keeper. I already told her she can take care of her own ass. And if you want to fight with someone because Merle ain't even about to start babyin' her, you need to talk to your husband. Rick's the one asked Merle to talk to Carol."

"Then I'll talk to Rick." Lori said turning to leave.

"Hang on a minute there Lori, Merle told Carol the truth. He wasn't nice about it, he didn't sugarcoat it, he bitch slapped her in the face with it. Maybe that's what she needs, because Carol ain't gonna last much longer.

Sooner or later I ain't gonna be there. Andrea ain't gonna be there. Rick, Glenn, Michonne, Hershel; ain't nobody gonna be there and Carol is gonna die. We all been carryin her around like a sack of potatoes. We can't keep doing that or more of us are gonna die because she won't accept the world she's livin' in.

Merle made me toughen up when I was a kid because of the simple fact that Merle won't always gonna be there, so I had to be able to depend on myself. Carol 's gotta learn to depend on herself. This is her last chance. She's either gonna bend and bounce back like I did, or she's gonna break and we'll be putting a bullet in her head and diggin a hole for her.

I rather not have to dig another grave, ya know? So if Merle can get her to change, let 'im."

* * *

"I don't see any walkers around, so would you like to tell me why you're crying?" Michonne asked.

"I don't want to talk about it." Carol replied.

"Maybe you need to talk about it. In case you haven't noticed, you're running out of friends pretty fast. Things used to be easy, we could sweep what we didn't want to deal with under the rug. Those days are gone. Now tell me what's got you bawling your eyes out."

"Daryl hates me, Andrea hates me. Everybody hates me. I've lost my husband and my daughter and no one cares." Carol said taking the napkin Michonne offered.

"Is that what you think? That no one cares? We all understand because we've all lost somebody. That's not the problem. Every one of us is grieving, we all feel the losses, the people we lost in the beginning and the ones we lose along the way.

The problem is yours Carol. You want to continue living like you did before the dead started walking. I do too. Every one of us wishes we could wake up and find out that this is all a bad dream but it's not. You are the only one who insists on still living like you did before. We don't have months and years to grieve. We don't have time to work through our problems, we have to deal with things as they happen.

We've talked so I know your husband was a seriously abusive bastard, but he's gone. He can't hurt you anymore. You are the one letting him control your life. And that is why T-Dog is dead. You're listening to his voice in your head telling you what you can and can't do. When you heard his voice saying you were too weak to do anything to help Daryl you listened to him. Stop listening to him.

No one is expecting you to turn into a Daryl or an Andrea, but we have to be able to depend on you when things go south. We have to be able to trust that you will make the effort and do what you can."

"I don't know how to live any other way." Carol said.

"None of us knew how to live in this world, we've all had to learn along the way." Michonne said putting her hand on Carol's shoulder. "Daryl has tried to teach you and from what I hear Merle Dixon told you to come to him when you decide you want to learn. You have to make a decision, is it worth living in his world or not. If you think it is then learn, if not then you stick your head in that oven and turn on the gas. You don't get to take the rest of us down with you."

* * *

"Had a talk with Lori just now. She said you were pretty rough on Carol."  
Daryl told Merle.

"Waddled right off to tattle did she? She's a right bitch but when push comes to shove she'll hold up her end, even pregnant. But she sure ain't doing Carol no favors, Ain't none of ya did that woman any favor." Merle grunted. "Carol is worse n you were Darylina, and you at least had a excuse. You was smaller than everyone else, Carol's a big girl she can hit back.

From now on you just leave Carol to me. Don't none of you go defendin' her or nothing else. It's gonna be ugly. Carol's gonna spend a lot of time cryin and mopin and looking for sympathy.

Oh and tell Ranger Rick to keep his bitch outta things or I'll have to school her pregnant ass too." Merle warned.


	7. Advice from Daryl and Michonne

"You don't like Carol very much do you?" Duane asked as he and Carl sat helping Daryl sharpen knives from the kitchen.

"What makes you think that?" Daryl said looking up at them.

"Well, you let Merle bully her all the time" Carl answered.

"That what you two think? That I'm just sitting back and letting Merle bully her?" Daryl laid the knife he was sharpening on the table. He thought for a minute. "It ain't that I'm letting him bully her, it's that I'm hopin' he can teach her somethin'."

"I don't understand. I though you liked her, you were always protecting her and doing stuff for her like looking for Sophia. Are you scared of Merle?" Carl asked.

Daryl laughed. "I ain't scared of Merle. I'll take a beating from him when I have to, I'd just prefer not to. I ain't stoppin him because of other reasons.

Before all this started when you was in school, you ever see bullies pickin on the smaller kids? You know takin their lunch money or shit like that?"

"Yeah" they both nodded.

"Bet they told you to tell a teacher when you saw it. You would, and the teacher would stop it right? Then the next day the bullies would be all over em again. The thing was, as soon as the teacher's back was turned; those little kids ain't had nobody to protect 'em. They'd go through school getting bullied ever day. Unless they stood up to em. Once one of those kids stood up to a bully, that bullies would leave em alone."

"How do you know that?" Duane asked.

"Cause I got bullied when I was little. Cept it won't no other kids bullyin' me, it was my daddy. Merle started standin up for me. He would protect me you see? Worked fine till Merle won't around, then my daddy would beat up on me again, only worse n before. That shit went on for years till Merle made me stand up for myself. Once my daddy learned I won't gonna take it no more, he stopped hittin on me all the time. That's why Merle is doin' what he's doin', he's tryin to get Carol to stand up for herself." Daryl explained.

"Walkers aren't bullies." Carl said.

"No they ain't, but the idea is still the same. The more I stood up to my daddy, the more I trusted myself. I learned that I didn't need Merle to protect me from my daddy, I could do it myself. That's why I ain't really scared of those dead bastards. Careful of em, but they don't scare me, cause I learned I could take care of Daryl. Carol has to learn that Carol can take care of Carol.

Carl you put down Shane when he turned, and you done put down a lot more since then. And Merle says you kill em without flinchin' too Duane. If walkers was ta overrun this place, I'd trust you two kids at my back before I'd trust her and she's a grown woman. You two gonna be doin' the same as me, putting the bastards down. Carol ain't, Carol gonna be waiting for somebody else to stand up to the walkers for her."

"That's what happened with T-Dog isn't it?" Carl asked. "All anyone would tell me was he got bitten. But he was with you and Carol."

Daryl looked at the two boys, "I ain't gonna lie to you, had Carol been fightin' alongside me and T-Dog, all our odds of survivin' woulda been a lot better. T-Dog might still be dead, but she'd be able to hold her head up with everybody in this group.

More importantly everyone of us could trust her. We would know that she'd stand back to back with any one of us and fight the bastards. Things go outta hand that day cause I was having to watch what was coming after from the front and have to watch was was coming after my back. Cause I couldn't trust Carol to do it."

* * *

"Rick I don't like it. You're just going to take Carl off into the woods? At night?" Lori said.

"Duane's going too." Carl added.

"Duane isn't my child!" Lori screamed at him.

"You wanna turn down the volume, Olive Oyl?" Daryl said as approached with Duane trailing behind him. "If ya ain't called every walker in the county with your shoutin, you're definitely scarin' off all the game. Besides Carl knows how to take care of himself. Between me an Rick ain't nothin gonna happen to him. The boy gonna need to know how to track game if he's gonna survive."

Lori turned to glare at Daryl. "You're real big on knowing how to take care of yourself aren't you Daryl? Isn't that why you threw Carol to the wolves. All that fighting between you and Shane and you're just like him, only difference is Shane was honest about it, you get Merle to do your dirty work for you."

"Lori that's enough. Lori" Rick said as he helped Carl don a backpack.

"No Rick let Olive Oyl speak her piece. She thinks I'm like Shane, ready to abandon anyone that slows him down. Who kept taking their ass out there day after day lookin' for Sophia when Shane was ready to chalk her up as dead?" Daryl said stepping close enough to Lori to give her a sense of being threatened.

"And she was wasn't she? You out in the woods falling down hills and making necklaces out of walker ears all for nothing. Sophia was in that barn the whole time." Lori spat.

"And your precious Shane was ready to just abandon her without ever trying to find out. You want to compare me to Shane? If I was like Shane, T-Dog would be alive and Carol would of gotten eaten on the side of the road. I would have just shot her myself so the walkers could get her while T-Dog and I ran away, she's the one pulling us down and making us weak. Sacrifice the weak, wasn't that Shane's way?"

"You bastard!" Daryl caught her hand and pulled her close enough to whisper.

"Try that again and I'll tell Rick exactly how long that little affair of yours with Shane went on. You honestly think I never saw the two of you headin' off towards the stable one after the other when you thought no one was lookin'? Pull it together gal, cause you wouldn't be no great loss either."

* * *

"We gonna be short tonight for patrols what with Daryl and Rick gone huntin' with the boys. Mickie You and Glenn take first watch, Andrea you and Maggie take second. Carol and I gonna take last watch."

"But I can't, I don't know how to use a gun." Carol protested.

"I can take last watch Mr Dixon." Beth said.

"Naw, girlie you get some sleep tonight. If Daryl and Rick ain't back tomorrow you and you daddy gonna have to pick up the slack. Carol might as well get used to the fact that we all pull patrol no matter what else we do. All of us have been pullin' patrol except for the boys, Lori and Carol. Lori is pregnant but there's nothing stopping Carol.

And depending on how the boys carry themselves on this hunt, Daryl will let me know if they ready to step up. As for you Carol, I picked somethin up for you last time we went for lumber."


	8. A Test

"What is it with you Dixon?" Andrea asked as Carol ran off crying. "Do you just get your rocks off tormenting that woman?"

"What do you care Blondie? I hear you been doing some tormentin' of your own." Merle replied.

"I have a reason to be pissed with her." Andrea hissed.

"Oh that's right when Hershels place fell she didn't lift a finger did she. Left ya hangin' like she did Daryl. Mickie over there pulled your ass outta the coals. I hear ya was ready to give it up back in Atlanta. So why didn't you just lay down and die?"

"I guess I never did really want to, Dale knew it and decided that if I was going to die, he was too. I couldn't be responsible for his death. And after I had some time and I realized I could fight back well, then I wanted to live."

"See Blondie, that's the difference tween you n her. You won't willing to drag no one else long for the ride; she ain't decided to live yet and she's willing to drag ever one of you down with her.

But she's gonna have to decide soon because she's running outta shit to clean round here. She got that room of ours damn near sterile. When there ain't no more dirt for her to be pissed at, she's gonna get pissed at herself. That's when she makes her choice, live or die."

Andrea gave Merle a look of consideration. "You are one lying SOB Merle Dixon. You're a bigger bullshitter than Daryl. He stomps around scowling all the time trying to make us think he doesn't give a damn, and he's always right there when the shit hits the fan looking out for our asses.

And you're exactly the same. You're so full of bullshit your eyes should be brown. Don't worry I'll keep your secret. I won't tell everyone that you're as much of a knight errant as Daryl." Andrea said with a laugh.

* * *

"Lori stay out of it. I know Carol is your friend and the closest friend you have right now, but none of us have been able to do anything with her. Maybe Merle can. I know it's hard and I don't like it anymore than you do." Rick said.

"Then do something about it! That douchebag is following her around constantly. She's been through enough!" Lori shouted.

"Tell me Lori, who are you willing to see die next time? Because there's going to be a next time, just like with Shane. You didn't really believe he was going to kill anyone else even after Dale told you. The signs were all there, I knew he was losing it, I just didn't want to believe it. Because I didn't, Shane murdered that kid in cold blood, he was going to murder me in cold blood.

Daryl warned us that Carol was going to get someone killed. How many times had Daryl and Andrea come to her rescue while she just stood there, frozen. We end up burying T-Dog on the side of the road. That's twice I've got blood on my hands, T-Dog's and Randall's. Randall's because I wouldn't do anything about Shane when I could, T-Dog's because I wouldn't listen to Daryl when I could.

I don't want anymore blood on my hands Lori, this is the way it's going to be. Like I said before, no more discussion." Rick said.

* * *

"Hershel are you telling me you're really okay with this?" Glenn asked. "Merle Dixon is not like Daryl. He's a racist. He almost beat T-Dog half to death up on that roof."

"People change Glenn, we've all changed. Those old prejudices don't matter any more, it's us against the walkers. They have the advantage because they don't have any prejudices or bias." Hershel answered.

"Are you telling me Merle has changed? I know him, I know better." Glenn said.

"You knew him. You haven't really spoken to him since we got here. You say he's a racist, but Michonne seems to get along with him. She even lets him call her Mickie. He's taken that boy Duane under his wing. Maybe he's not what he was before. But then again, maybe he is. You said yourself that you misjudged Daryl in the beginning.

But the one thing you haven't thought about is that Rick trusts him. Rick asked him to help with Carol. Sometimes tough love is the only thing that gets through to people."

* * *

"Daryl, please stop and talk to me." Carol was following along behind him like a lost puppy.

"Carol, I already said everything I need to say." Daryl turned and snapped.

"You blame me for what happened to T-Dog. I understand that. I don't understand how you can stand by while Merle..."

"While Merle what? Tells you the truth? Takes away all the people been willing to be your crutch?" Daryl asked. "Merle ain't doing no more to you than he did to me. You don't see me asking someone to take up for me do you?

If I thought Merle was gonna do you some real harm, I'd take him on. I'd get my ass stomped, but I'd take him on. I ain't done that and I ain't gonna. I done all I can for you Carol, I ain't gonna go up to him and tell him to stop. You want Merle to stop, then you make him stop."

"Darylina, some reason you wasting time talking to the maid? We need clean towels in the room or something?" Merle asked as he came up to them.

"Shut up Merle, and call me Darylina in public again I'm gonna kick your ass." Daryl said.

"Really?" Merle turned to Carol. "You got something to say to me? No? Didn't think so.

And if you think you're man enough to stop me from callin you anything I wanna call you Darylina, feel free to take a swing."

"Son of a bitch." Daryl said and shoved Merle who just laughed and shoved Daryl to ground. Merle dived on top of Daryl and started slapping him in the head.

"Ain't never needed but one hand to kick your ass Darylina. I swear you a bigger pussy now than when you were little. Maybe I should go get you one of them fancy maid costumes, you can help Carol scrub toilets." Merle said holding the struggling Daryl down.

"Rick!" Carol screamed bringing Rick and everyone else running.

Merle shook his head. "So you just gonna stand there and yell for help while I beat the crap outta him? Guess it's a good thing I don't wanna hurt him ain't it."

"What the hell is going on?" Rick asked as Carol ran over to him.

"Call it a pop quiz, she failed." Merle said pulling Daryl to his feet.

"Well it sure didn't work like we planned." Daryl said watching as Carol stomped off toward her room.


	9. Learning from the Dixons

"This is as good a place as any." Daryl said looking around. "We'll make camp here and tomorrow we'll start looking for tracks around the creek bed."

"Now I see why you were so determined to get this camper running. We're a long ways out." Rick said.

"Better that way. Whatever we take down we field dress it here to keep the smell of blood out of our little haven. We know those SOBs can smell, but we don't know how good." Daryl said.

"Hopefully we can get some meat laid in. With the freezer working we can keep it from spoiling." Rick noted. "That's if we can actually hit something." Rick said looking at the crossbow in front of him dubiously.

"When it comes to shooting, the basics is pretty much the same as a shotgun or rifle. You got the scope for targetin', sight in and when you got your target lined up, pull the trigger. But you get the one shot make it count. By the time you set it again, whatever you were aimin' at will be gone. It's quieter than a gun, but you lose time."

"Wouldn't a regular bow be faster?" Carl asked.

"Yeah, a lot faster. You can fire as fast as you can pull a arrow of of the quiver but you lose accuracy. Crossbow is also limited in how many arrows you can carry, another reason to take your time and make your shots count. Tomorrow you guys learn on the fly."

"You kids should bed down." Rick said. "I have a feeling tomorrow is going to be a long day."

* * *

"Merle!" Glenn said startled as the big man walked up on him. "You startled me."

"Yeah, I see that. You need to be alert. It seems like we're safe but you never know. Just cause we ain't seen no herds don't mean there ain't a straggler out there. And it ain't just walkers we got to worry bout."

"What do you mean?" Glenn asked.

"People, people who ain't worth a damn. They're out there. You don't think that we the only ones survived do you? Duane and I was waiting when you showed up. Didn't know it was you, but we knew it was living people. If it hadn't been you folks there' be some bodies in that parkin lot."

"How did you know we were coming." Glenn asked.

"Little brother got careless, left tire tracks. I ain't seen no walkers on motorcycles since this shit started." Merle spat on the ground. "So you keep your eye out there, don't need no surprises."

* * *

Daryl sat up and grabbed his bow. Since the farm had fallen, he had developed the annoying habit of waking up at the least little noise. Made for a lot of sleepless nights. He saw Rick standing at the front of the camper peering off into the darkness. Quietly he joined his friend.

"See somethin'?" He whispered.

"You won't believe what I saw if I told you." Rick said.

"You kiddin' me Grimes? You're talkin to a man that saw a chupacabra." Daryl said.

"Well you're talking to a man that just saw damned tiger crossing the road." Rick said.

"Well that ain't so strange when you think about it. All them animals in the zoos. If the walkers ain't get em, they probably roamin' around the woods looking for food. Ain't no zookeepers left to bring em dinner every day." Daryl said. "Sun'll be up soon. Let's get the boys up and find us a trail."

* * *

"Here girlie." Merle said handing Carol a golf club. "Something come at you, you swing that iron hard as you can at it's head. I mean hard girlie. You stay here, I'll walk the perimeter."

"You're leaving me alone? You can't, what if a walker shows up." Carol asked, upset.

"You're a big girl. You kill it. I can't babysit you no more n anybody else can. We all gotta do what we gotta do to survive, including killing the damned things if we have to. Only ones ain't killed one yet is you n Beth. She's young, but she's tryin to learn."

"I can't. You can't ask me to do this." She balked.

"I ain't askin Carol. I'm tellin you. Ever one of us is responsible for the safety of this group, it ain't a option, it's a requirement.. All of us do something. We all been working to make this place livable and pullin' patrol at night. You gonna pull your weight now too. Or deal with the consequences."

"What consequences?" She asked.

"Ain't you been living with consequences already? If it comes down to it. Which one of those people wants you within 10 feet when the crap hits? Hmm? Carl told you Daryl done said he''ll take one of those boys at his back before you. You're a joke Carol. You're the maid, the pet cleaning lady that ain't nobody gonna risk their ass for no more when it comes down to it. You want people to look out for your ass now, then you gonna have to prove it's worth lookin' out for." Merle said walking away.

* * *

"See the hoof prints, that's a deer, came down here to the creek to get a drink. Headed up that way. Now we follow it. Tracks ain't always prints though. Sometimes you gotta look for other things." Daryl said.

"Like what?" Duane asked from behind him.

"Sometimes it's leaves been stirred up like this. See how these leaves are dry but all the rest is wet? The wet ones is where the dew fell on em last night. The dry ones is where something come through and turned em over." Daryl explained as he pointed out a handful of dry leaves in the trail. "Or maybe the brush just ain't laying right."

He reached out and grabbed Rick's arm. "Or whatever you tracking leaves a big pile on the ground."

Rick looked down to see that he had stepped in a pile of feces. "Shit!" he said dragging his foot through the leaves and dirt, trying to wipe it off. Carl and Duane managed to keep their laughter down to quiet giggles.

"Exactly, and the fresher it is, the closer your prey. And that's pretty damned fresh." Daryl smirked. "Bambi ain't too far off so keep it down." Daryl lifted his bow and moved forward.


	10. Walker Ears

"You guys done good." Daryl said tying a rope around the boar's back legs. "Better n I expected. I wasn't planning on goin after no wild boar. Things are meaner than a wet skunk at the best of times."

"It was a good shot, right Daryl?" Carl asked looking down at the boar.

"It was a lucky shot. You don't bring these bastards down right quick they'll gore you. You gonna mess with one of these things you have to make damned good shot every time." Daryl tossed the end of the rope over a branch. "Okay let's get him up, need to drain the rest of the blood out."

With everyone pulling on the rope the boar's head was soon hanging about a foot off the ground. Daryl cut the hogs neck allowing the blood to start flowing. He then built a small fire.

"You know, you can pretty much eat every part of a pig." Daryl said as he began cutting the animal open.

"Ewww, Gross!" Carl said as things began spilling out.

Daryl rooted around inside and removed the heart, kidneys and liver. He skewered them with a stick and suspended them over the fire. "Don't knock it till you've tried it. That's lunch. Now lets get this thing dressed out."

* * *

"Well you don't look no worse for wear today Carol. Guess you was able to pull patrol after all." Merle said.

"You can't make me do that again." Carol said.

"Why, cause you were scared?" Merle asked. "You got through it didn't you? Look at Glenn over there. He's been pullin guard for you guys for how long now? Glenn get your Chinese ass over here!"

"I'm Korean, not Chinese." Glenn responded.

"Okay so get your Korean ass over here then." Merle retorted.

"What do you want Merle?" Glenn asked as he came up to them.

"You scared of them walkers? Tell the truth now." Merle questioned.

"What?" Glenn asked in confusion.

"Are ya scared? It's a easy question. I want Carol here to hear your answer." Merle told him.

"Well yeah, I guess I am. I mean they want to eat us." Glenn said. "It's not like you can talk to them or anything. All they want to do is kill you."

"See Glenn's scared of em too. Truth is if ya ain't dead, ya fearful of em. If ya ain't fearful, you're stupid as hell.."

"Daryl's not scared of them." Carol said. "You aren't scared of them."

"That what you think, Carol? That Daryl and I don't feel any fear? Daryl and me went through some rough shit comin' up. We just done learned how not to let being afraid control us. We ain't as scared of em like Glenn, but believe me we got enough fear to be damned respectful of what those bastards can do."

* * *

Daryl plunged his knife into the ground beside him. He laid the tusks out on the ground in front of him. "You boys ever learn about primitive people?" He asked. "You know like how they still lived in some jungles and stuff?"

"Not really." Duane said.

"Well a lot of them people still held on to old ways of doing things, Like they been doing since the beginning. They was strange ways to us because we had all these machines and technology, but a lot of people around the world didn't. Those people are probably doing a damn sight better n we are right now. They lived different and they believed different."

"Sound's like you're going to give us a history lesson Daryl." Rick said.

"Just shut up and listen, Grimes. These people still hunt their food, ain't no Walmarts in the jungle. They put a lot of store in the hunters, respect em and stuff cause they keep em fed you know?

And the hunters set themselves apart. Mark themselves so everyone knows they are hunters. Even we did that here. People with stuffed fish on the walls, animal heads, racks from a buck; shit like that."

He picked up the tusks. "We just took down a boar. That makes us the hunters in our group, so we earned the right to these. It marks you." He said handing the tusks around. "But that tusk is more than just a tusk. See these ancient people believed that taking somethin from a kill like this gives you the power of what you killed. So long as you have that tusk with you, you carry all that boar's power too."

"Is that why you made that necklace out of walker ears?" Carl asked. "When Hershel's horse threw you. You had those ears when you came back to the farm. Do you really believe those ears gave you power or they were like magic?"

"It won't the ears themselves no more n the tusks are 'magic'. It's what they represent. I had just killed two walkers. I had a arrow through my side and a knot on my head the size a Texas. Somehow, bad as things were, I did it. Those ears were something to remind me of that. Every time I wanted to quit and give up climbin up that ravine, they was there to remind me.

Those tusks are the same thing. No matter how bad things get, they gonna remind you of that moment you took on somethin meaner and nastier than you, and you won."

* * *

"Michonne, can we talk?" Lori asked seeing Michonne alone in the little kitchen washing blackberries. "We really haven't had a chance to just talk you know."

"I guess that depends on what you want to talk about." Michonne said.

"I'm just wondering how you feel about what's going on around here. I mean Merle giving orders, stuff like that."

"You know Lori when I first joined you guys, it looked like Rick was leading you guys but he was leaning really heavily on Daryl. Didn't take me too long to figure out which way the wind was blowing, those two figured it out. Rick was the best leader in situation A and Daryl was the better man in situation B. Those two figured this out, they co-exist with Rick out front and Daryl stepping up when he needs to.

Rick trusts Daryl's judgment and the two of them have been doing their damnedest together to keep us all alive. And they haven't been failing us much. Merle was in the military, so he's been taking over security around this place with the same goal, keeping us alive." Michonne dried her hands and turned around to face Lori. "So why don't you just stop beating around the bush. What's really on your mind?"

"Carol isn't as strong as the rest of us. Merle is torturing her for God's sake. You can't be alright with that!" Lori said exasperated.

"Should she be exempt from torture? Is she so special that she doesn't get to suffer like the rest of us? I helped Daryl bury T-Dog. And afterwards when we sat there by that grave, that's the closest I have ever seen Daryl Dixon come to breaking down. T-Dog was dead, and Daryl felt like he had failed a member of this group, a friend. Then he swallowed it, bottled up all that pain and all that guilt and walked around like Billy Badass without a care in the world. He wouldn't let any of you see how much he was hurting.

Carol was no help to any of us that day, your own son put down a walker. And she just stood there. Every time we lose someone it's a devastating blow to this group. The smaller this group gets the weaker it gets because we've got one less person to fight.

T-Dog was not a loss we could afford. And Daryl walks around here carrying guilt he has no business carrying. It's Carol's guilt, but he's carrying it for her. There's not much in this world that terrifies me, but the way Daryl looked that day terrified me. If he breaks, we may as well all just put a bullet in our heads. Every one of us has Daryl to thank for saving our asses at some point.

So you ask how I feel about Merle dealing with Carol? I just pray he can succeed in making her tougher. I don't care if he has to break her in half to do it."


	11. Another Dixon Plot

"Well damn! Didn't know y'all was all a crazy as that little brother of mine." Merle said.

"Hell Merle, I was planning on baggin a deer or something. Carl and Duane the ones went after Hogzilla here. Me n Rick was just along for the ride." Daryl said.

"Carl? Really?" Damn kid! I'm impressed!' Merle said. "Daryl's the only SOB I know crazy enough to tangle with a wild boar.

"Luckiest damn shot I ever seen. Right tween the ribs and into the heart. Soon as Hogzilla here started after us, he knocked the damned arrow out and commenced to bleedin." Daryl said.

"Like a stuck pig." Rick finished with a laugh.

"Should seen old Rick here tryin to climb a Georgia Pine!" Daryl said. "I swear I ain't seen a monkey in a zoo do no better."

"Speaking of zoos, we need to keep an eye out for loose animals." Rick added. 'I saw a tiger running loose while we were out. Could be anything out in the woods now. Better let everyone know."

"Carl! Thank God!" Lori said as she came up and tried to hug him.

"Mom quit it." Carl said as he squirmed to get away. "You're embarrassing me."

"The Great White Hunter doesn't get hugged by his mother in public." Rick explained. "It's bad for his image."

"What are you talking about?" Lori asked.

"It's Carl's boar. Let him enjoy the moment Lori." Rick said on the way by.

* * *

"Carol, I heard you stood guard last night." Daryl said. "Good for you."

"Merle made me. He left me alone up in that store for hours. With a golf club. Suppose walkers had shown up. I can't do that Daryl, please talk to him."

"Why you sayin you can't, Carol? You did it. You sat on guard. That's a good thing. You wouldna done that a couple of weeks ago. You have to stop thinkin you're weak. I know you ain't weak, If you was weak, Your husband woulda hurt that little girl a long time ago. But you figured out how to keep him away from 'er. That ain't weak."

"Talk to him, please." Carol asked.

"I ain't gonna do that. I told you if you want Merle to stop ridin you so hard, it's up to you. You have to do it. Show him you got a backbone.

Look I know what everybody thought of me back in Atlanta because Merle didn't hide the fact that he thought most people of other races won't worth a damn, specially blacks. But look at how he treats Michonne. He's got a lot of respect for her, and Duane? Closest thing to a son Merle'll ever have and it's because they have his respect. They showed him that they was just as tough as he was.

If my brother can accept them, then he'll accept you a lot quicker. You just have to give him a reason to."

* * *

The group was sitting around the courtyard area minus Daryl and Merle who were walking the fence line seeing how much more work was needed.

"Daryl is right. All those animals are going to be looking for food. And since most of them are not native species, we could have a problem with the predators." Hershel noted. "Introduced species tend to turn into invasive species since they don't have other native predators to control the populations."

"So we have to worry about these tigers?" Andrea asked.

"I would be more worried about the primates. Chimpanzees, gorillas; they will be more of a threat to us than the big cats." Hershel told her.

"Wait why would they be more of a threat." Glenn asked confused.

"They are our closest relatives in the animal kingdom. The have an intelligence closer to ours and most of them do have a limited ability to use tools. They will use rocks and sticks, and they are naturally stronger than we are. They could give us more of a problem than lions or tigers."

"So what do we do about them?" Michonne asked.

"Avoid them as much as possible." Maggie answered.

Another consequence of what has happened. We simply are not at the top of the food chain anymore. We are in competition with the animals we once controlled."

* * *

"She did sit on guard, Merle. That's somethin'." Daryl said.

"Yeah but it ain't made her no more sure of herself than she was before." Merle stopped and looked at Daryl. "Maybe she needs to kill somethin'"

"What? Kill somethin'? You find some moonshine round here I don't know about?" Daryl shook his head. "You must be shit-faced drunk."

"No, think about it. You took them boys huntin' because they needed to know how to provide for themselves. You said yourself that everybody needs to be able to take care of themselves. Take the women out."

"Damn if the sun ain't cooked your brain! You want me to take them out huntin? I ain't got no death wish!" Daryl said.

"Come on little brother Andrea and Michonne got backbone. Beth knows which end of a gun is the business end just like 'er sister Maggie. Ranger Rick's bitch is pregnant so I wouldn't 'spect you to take her out waddlin'. Looks like everyone knows something 'cept for Carol. Maybe she see a bunch of gals showin her ass up it'll motivate her?" Merle explained.

"I know it'll motivate me into probably wringin' all them hen's necks!" Daryl protested.

"I'll go tell them you're takin them out tomorrow. Hey where you going?" Merle called as Daryl started stompin off toward the store.

"To go dig out my stash of beer and get fallin down, piss my pants drunk!" Daryl answered.


	12. Surprise!

"Well, you gals ready?" Merle asked as he looked at the group of women.

"This should be interesting at least." Michonne said. "I'm kind of tired of just hanging around this place. I think it will do us good to get out and learn a little bit."

"Don't you think we should take our guns?" Andrea asked.

"Hell no!" Daryl replied as he joined them. "Last thing I want is the pack of you at my back with guns. Probably shoot me in my ass." he said looking at Carol. "Besides I ain't takin' y'all out to go huntin'. I'm takin y'all out so you can learn to read a trail. That way you can tell us if you see one and let us handle it."

"Sexist much Daryl?" Andrea asked. "I think we've proven we can handle ourselves."

"You can handle yourself Andrea, Michonne can handle herself. Maggie and Beth may be able to handle themselves."

"But I can't." Carol finished for him.

"No you can't. And as long as you can't, you ain't nothin' but a danger to the rest of us." Daryl said.

"Well that was a Dixon worthy comment if I ever heard one." Maggie said.

"I'm a Dixon, whadda you expect?" Daryl shot back. "I ain't doin' this out of the goodness of my heart ya know? I'm doing this so's the next time I got walkers on my ass and Carol is standin' there she'll do somethin other than just stand there. Cause if she don't, I ain't got no reason to worry about any ass but my own."

* * *

"Merle thinks maybe seeing herself compared to all the other women will get it through her head. We can't keep carrying Carol. We can't afford it." Rick said.

"It's harsh, but I can understand the reasoning behind it. It's sound logic." Hershel said. "But Carol is in denial. I don't know if it's even possible to get her to face reality."

"Maggie doesn't like this anymore than I do." Glenn said.

"None of us like it, but it's my call. If we had done this sooner, we wouldn't have our backs against the wall now.

And it's not much progress, but Carol stood watch. That's some progress. She just has to progress faster. And Merle is committed to it." Rick said. "He's putting a lot of effort into her, more than I expected him to."

"Merle has changed. He's not the same as he was when we were back at the quarry." Glenn said.

"Y'all talkin but me?" Merle said as he joined them.

"Glenn was just saying that you've changed. You're not the same man you were in Atlanta." Rick said.

"Ain't none of us the same people we were. Guess it's cause there ain't a lot of us left. Still don't mean I'm gonna join arms and sing "We Shall Overcome" with nobody I don't think is worth it. But for those I do think is worth it? I'll kick the devil's ass one handed." Merle said.

"And what does it take for you to think someone is worth it?" Lori asked snidely. "Lily white skin?"

"Believe you me Missus Grimes, lily white skin ain't got nothing to do with it. If it did There's some folks wouldn't be here, even if Daryl calls em friends. As a matter of fact lily white skin ain't even enough with some people." Merle said and walked away.

* * *

Daryl continued walking along the stream, trying to ignore the gaggle of women behind him. So far they had managed to startle every bit of wildlife in the woods. Why Merle insisted on him taking this bunch of hens anywhere was beyond him. He was startled from him private grumbling by a shrill scream behind him. He spun around looking for walkers, tigers or any other danger. Not seeing anything he looked at the women and saw them all trying to hide behind each other and pointing at the ground.

Looking down he saw the cause of the screams. A small green snake. He looked at the snake, then looked at the women, and looked back at the snake. He shook his head in disgust and leaned against a tree.

"Kill it! Kill it!" the women were all shouting at once.

"It ain't hurtin nobody. Just a little green snake and all y'all got your panties in a twist?" Daryl snorted. "Guess there's a reason men do the huntin' and women stay home doin' the cleanin'."

"I thought you were better than that. I thought you were different. That's the same kind of thing Ed would say before he hit me. He'd tell me women belonged at home doing a man's bidding." Carol said. "I put up with it for 15 years from him, I'm not taking it from you!" Carol said launching herself at Daryl.

* * *

"Hey Merle! They're back !" Glenn called.

Carol was stomping off in the direction of her room, and a 'damp' Daryl was stomping off in another direction. Maggie, Beth, Michonne and Andrea watched quietly.

"What's wrong with them?" Glenn asked.

This started a fit of hysterical laughter among the remaining women.

"What's so funny?" Merle asked as he joined them. "I'd think y'all would be a bit more serious."

"Well Merle, we just learned the meaning of madder than a wet hen." Andrea said.

"Except in this case the hen was a rooster!" Maggie said with a giggle.

"What?" Glenn asked. "I'm totally confused here."

"You've been wanting Carol to grow a backbone and she just grew one." Michonne explained.

"And gave Daryl a swimming lesson!" Beth finished.

"Huh?" Merle and Glenn questioned at the same time.

"She shoved his ass in the creek." Andrea clarified.

"Wait, Carol shoved Daryl in the creek? Well that is progress!" Merle said. "I think I'll go congratulate her."


	13. The Dixon Secret

"Carol?" Merle said as she opened the door. "How ya feelin' right now? I hear my brother went for a little swim."

"I'm sorry." She started.

"Don't you dare apologize, you ain't hurt him none. Well maybe his pride's a bit bruised, but Daryl can handle worse n that.

You stood up for yourself. That is what I been tryin to get you to do. It's what Daryl and everyone else has been wanting you to do. It's what you're gonna have to do to survive in this world."

"It's not me. I'm not a violent person Merle." Carol said.

"It ain't about bein violent, it's about survivin'. Let me ask ya somethin, ya care what happens to Daryl?"

"Of course I do! He almost died looking for Sophia. When everyone else including me had given up hope, Daryl wouldn't. He did everything humanly possible to find her." Carol sat on the bed. And buried her face in her hands. "He has done so much for me, and everyone else. And we haven't done anything except take from him. I realized that today."

"I wouldn't say you ain't done nothin for him Carol, you gave him a bath." Merle smiled at her and handed her a tissue.

"I did do that didn't I?" She said with a small laugh. "The thing was when he was sitting there in the creek, I realized just how much I had failed him. I wanted to think it was his job to protect me, that all I had to do was hide behind him. But I also realized that I had been just as cruel to him in my own way as Ed had been to me.

I was alone after Sophia died, I guess I saw him as a kindred spirit. We were both alone, we had both lost people we loved. And as I saw others accepting him, I kind of felt like they were taking him from me. He was all I had left. And I would try to drive a wedge between him and the others with things I'd say and do." Carol shook her head no. "Daryl is a good man, he deserves better from me, from all of us. There's been times that Daryl was my only friend."

"He ain't exactly the most social person in the world, that's for sure. He always been happiest out in the woods with nobody around. Before this shit happened I told him he was gonna end up one of them crazy ZZ Topp lookin' bastards with a beard down to his knees; living alone on top of a mountain, just him and the bears.

But Daryl took care of you. He had reasons you don't know nothin about. And until we all connected back up, he woulda laid down his life for ya. Y'all had more n common than you know." Merle said cryptically.

"I do feel like I should apologize." Carol said.

"I guess you do have some stuff to apologize for after all, but dumpin his ass in the creek ain't one of em." Merle said. "By the way, you're on guard with me tonight. Ain't nobody back home woulda shoved Daryl in a creek once he was grown, they was all as scared of him as they was a me. All you had to do was ask round town everybody woulda told you 'You don't fuck with the Dixons'.

That means you are one tough lady. I always knew you were, you just had to prove it to yourself, and now you have. "

* * *

"I think she'll be okay now, once she realizes she just got away with shovin' me in the creek." Daryl said. "Shocked the hell outta me. Once second I'm standin there with her up in my face yellin at me and the next I'm flat on my ass in ice cold water with my nuts shrivelin up like a couple of raisins!"

"So you think she'll be alright now?" Rick asked.

"She's on her way. It took guts for her to jump me like that." Daryl said. "She holds on to that and she'll be just fine. And Merle will remind her when she starts to doubt."

"I have to ask, why did Merle agree to help her?" Rick asked.

"Merle saw how tough she was back at the quarry handlin' Ed.. He never much liked Ed, any more n I did. We saw how he treated her. We saw how he looked at Sophia too. Merle and me don't much like child molesters to begin with, and for a man to be sick enough to look at his own baby girl that way?

Since you ain't wearin a badge no more, I'll be honest with you. If them walkers hadn't got him, he was gonna turn up dead soon anyways. They just saved me n Merle the trouble. Sides, Merle ain't one to poach on another man's land; but that man ain't around no more, that woman is fair game."

"Merle had a thing for Carol?" Rick asked shocked.

"Has a thing for her. I always took care of her cause I knew it was what Merle would've wanted. He'd of expected me to make sure she didn't come to no harm. I asked you to get him to help with her cause I knew he could help; and the way he feels bout her, he ain't gonna fail her."


End file.
